Rain and Snow Starts Week in Northwest

A new storm will move into the Pacific Northwest coast this Monday associated with an upper-level trough, which will lead to either a wet or snowy start to the new week for many in the West. On Monday, rain showers are expected across coastal Washington and Oregon, eastern Washington, portions of Northern and central California, and the lower elevations of Idaho and western Montana. A mix of rain and snow is forecast in eastern Oregon while rain changes over to snow as freezing levels drop in the Cascades and the mountains of Northern California. Snow showers are also likely in the Sierra Nevada as well as in the northern Rocky Mountains into northern Nevada.

Then overnight Monday, the region will begin to dry out. Dwindling rain showers are still expected, however, along the coast and down into Northern and central California. Snow will persist primarily in the Cascades and the central and southern Sierra Nevada. Back into the interior, snow showers will work farther south and east into central Nevada, northern Utah, and western Wyoming.

On Tuesday, the activity will continue to lessen across the region as this storm redevelops over the Central Plains into another winter storm beginning on Wednesday. Rain showers are forecast on Tuesday along the Pacific Northwest coast while all of the precipitation comes to an end in California. Snow will stick around in the higher elevations, including in the Cascades, northern Idaho, extreme-western Montana, much of Wyoming, portions of Utah, and western Colorado. By Tuesday night, all of the precipitation dissipated across the West.

Up to two feet of snow is forecast across portions of the Cascades as well as in the central Sierra Nevada. Otherwise, generally three to six inches of snow can be expected wherever snow is forecast. In terms of rainfall, up to three inches of rain may fall along the Oregon coast. Less than a quarter of an inch of precipitation is expected across the interior of the West.

Jackson is Head of Content at WeatherOptics and produces several forecasts and manages all social media platforms. Previously, Jackson forecasted local weather for southwestern Connecticut, founding his website, Jackson's Weather, in the March of 2015. He is currently studying Meteorology and Broadcast Journalism at the University of Miami.